No Place Like Home

Starry clung tightly to the thin sheet which covered her. It was the middle of the day, but Starry had no intention of going outside, or even leaving her bed. Jasmine and Shutter were probably in the other room talking about her, but Starry didn't want to care.

It had been this way for weeks. Starry hated being alone, but that hatred was far outweighed by her immense fear of leaving the comfort and safety of her bed. The only time she would ever slither out from underneath her sheet is when she needed to use the restroom, a brief distraction which she made as sparingly as she could.

This all stemmed from one of Starry's dumber ideas. Some distant town Starry had never heard of called the Swordmares for help, and Starry rushed off alone like a fool into an obvious trap. It was slavers, and they put Starry through what she had described as unfathomable torture.

Starry had been broken long before Jasmine and Shutter had rescued her. Starry had gained several dozen pounds back since her return, and she no longer looked like a skeleton wrapped in a sheet, but her mental trauma crippled her. Shutter and Jasmine were the only ponies she was comfortable speaking with, and even then she preferred not to.

Jasmine pressed an ear to Starry's door, listening to her sister on the other side. Much to Jasmine's surprise, warm musical greetings didn't really do the trick this time. What Starry went through was horrible, and it would take more than hugs and parties to get through this. The mare took her ear away from the door and trotted down the hallway to the living room. Her hooves echoed off of the sheet metal as she entered the room that Shutter was in. Jasmine let out a long and heavy sigh, her eyes connected with the stallion that was Starry's colt friend.

"Shutter, I'm worried about Thtar... She'th been like thith for weekth..." Jasmine trotted to a stove nearby and tried to cook up something to cheer Starry up. A worn plate waited near the cooking pot. Jas hopped her fore hooves onto the counter and grabbed a ladle with her teeth and placed a portion on the plate. She then grabbed garnish and tried to make little hearts over what was probably meant to be some sort of soup.

"I jutht don't know what to do anymore Shutter... I think my thithter might be gone..."

Shutter looked up for a moment from his spot against the wall, listening to Jasmine's concerns. When Starry had dissapeared, the stallion had spent ages searching, looking for any leads as to her location. it had only been when he had learned about the 'show' Starry had gone too that he and Jazz were set on the right track.

"Jasmine...I know it might seem hopeless...but..."

Slowly, Shutter pulled himself back onto his hooves, before walking over to the Pegasus, patting her on the back comfortingly with a hoof.

"...If the situations were different, and it was one of us in that room instead of Starry? Would she give up on us? No, she would do anything in her power to help us back on our feet. Thats why we can't give up on her.

Starry is a strong mare...probably the strongest I've ever met, being able to be bouncy and happy in the wastes. ...She's still in there somewhere...but she won't come back to us without our help..."

With those lines, Shutter forced a smile, trying to remain positive for Jasmine's sake...though his tired eyes made it appear more sad then positive...

Jas nodded as she looked back toward Shutter. Her gaze turned toward the floor as they stared momentarily unfocused. A small thud sounded as Jasmine flopped down on her flank as she tapped her hooves against the floor boards. The pegasus with the wild green eyes normally had an energy that rushed about her, however the dark circles and messier hair were signs Jas literally was worrying herself sick. She looked up toward Shutter and gave a tired smile.

"You're abtholutely right Shutter. Thtarry'th thtill in there thomewhere and it'th up to uth to help her find her way back."

Jasmine took a deep breath as she rubbed her eye with the back of her forehoof, switching to her nose after making a few sniffles.

"Well... I'm thertainly not getting anything done jutht complaining... We need to do thomething Shutter, there'th only tho many thmiley fathe goop thoup that I can try making... I jutht hate theeing her thtuck in her room all gloomy and thuch..."

Jasmine carefully set a spoon onto the plate meant for Starry and gave a thoughtful nod as she tried to make sure the plate was presentable.

Shutter would nod, as he slowly stood up. He had been trying to think of a solution too, but very little was coming to mind, aside from one thing...

"Well...maybe it's the room thats the problem? Hear me out on this...she's been in there for weeks, and we're the only ponies she's spoken to since then. That really can't be helping, right?

What if we convinced Starry to go walk around Stableton with us close-by to keep her safe, and we can try and find some of her other friends! Maybe once she realizes she has lots of friends who want to see her well again, she'll start to come out of her shell a bit?"

Jasmine looked at Shutter hesitantly. Her stare went in the direction of Starry's room as she thought to herself. A few noises escaped her mouth as her lips tried to form words. She turned her head back to Shutter.

"I don't know Shutter. It theemth to me that she'th in there becauthe she doesn't feel thafe to go out. She'th been through thomething aweful. I don't think jutht talking with her friendth alone will tholve it. Although... That room ith definitely not good for her, it'th probably making her even more deprethhed..."

Jasmine rubbef her hoof against her chin as she fearfully thought over any consequences.

"Maybe we could thtart by having her thleep in the living room!" Jasmine smiled nervously at Shutter. As good as that would be for Starry, she was just too afraid of pushing Starry in her state.

"I don't expect it to solve the problem right away Jasmine. What Starry went through...it's going to take a long time for her to get better. But I think it could be a start.

However, if you wanted to take it a bit slower, then maybe it would be a good idea to start with just...getting her out of her room for a bit. Not sleeping in the living room, but actually convincing her to come out around the house. Maybe we could bring a friend around now and then once Starry's started to get comfortable outside of her room."

Offering that compromise, Shutter would trot over to the hallway, as he looked dow at Starry's room, a look of guilt coming over his face.

"I...I can't help but feel this is my fault...If I had just found that letter sooner, if I hadn't jumped to conclusions on all those other events and wasted my time...maybe she wouldn't be like this right now..."

Jasmine watched as Shutter stared at Starry's room while what appeared to be a wave of guilt washed over him. His words hung in the air inside the house, and at first Jasmine had trouble finding the right words to tell Shutter.

"Shutter..." Jasmine placed a hoof on his shoulder, her head craned around the side as she tried to look in his eyes. "It'th not your fault. Putting thith guilt on yourthelf will do nothing for Thtarry. You THAVED her Shutter. Without you she'd thtill be back in that horrible plathe...Or worthe..." Jasmine tried to keep a straight face as she began to sniffle.

"Now then... Let'th try to keep it together for Thtarry... Like you thaid, we need to be there for Thtarry..."

The door to Starry's room creaked open, and Starry trotted out of it cautiously. She had wrapped herself in her bed sheet, wearing it like a hooded-cloak. She might look ridiculous, if she weren't so distraught. Her eyes scanned over the room, cautiously avoiding crossing Shutter and Jasmine's outlines.

She dug at the floor, staring at her hoof for a long while, before finally opening her mouth to speak. "I-uh, I could hear you... from my room," she muttered.

Shutter's eyes would widen for a second as he turned to look at Starry, somewhat surprised to see her out of her room.

"Starry...Er, I'm...sorry you had to hear that..."

He would mumble, taking a single trot forwards, avoiding getting too close to Starry. He didn't want to spook her, but part of him wanted to be ready. Despite how much Starry had begun to recover physically, part of him still thought of her for the moment as that weak, skeletal figure they found, and he wanted to be ready to help her if she toppled over.

For the moment, Shutter would try and search his mind for the right thing to say. He wasn't too sure how right it was to tell someone about how you thought you could help them mentally, and this moment was punctuated by several glances to the side at the pegasus, as he hoped Jasmine knew the right thing to say in this situation...

Jasmine's eyes widened as the door opened. Her eyes were met with the sight of her sister. Jasmine's heart sank at that last statement. She didn't want Starry to think that they were being insensitive, so she tried to think of a way to handle this exchange. It was all in the wording. Jasmine beamed as she approached her sister slowly. Her voice softened as she made eye contact with the blue mare.

"I'm thorry if we were too loud; we're jutht tho exthited about theeing your beautiful thmile today. Aaand I know what will bring it out!" Jasmine flew to the bowl nearby and returned with the brew that she made. Her teeth clenched onto a tray that held a bowl with a steaming soup inside. Jasmine set the tray down gently as she returned her attention to Starry. "I made you a little thomething thunshine! Look, it'th jutht like how dad uthed to rehydrate...Exthept it'th almotht one hundred perthent hoof-made my yourth truly!" Jasmine giggled at her own joke and leaned in while winking, "the remaining perthentage wath made with my heart...That'th how the love got in!"

Jasmine's eyes shot up to toward her forehead as her right eyebrow lowered. Suddenly her face brightened up again as she leaned in, "I couldn't find a correct way to exprethh the hoof made to heart made ratio tho I'll jutht thpoil my joke and thay it wath a metaphor... I don't want my joke to be ath confuthing ath it wath clever" Jasmine grabbed the tray with her teeth and offered it to her sis.

Starry glared at Jasmine dubiously. She furrowed her brow, peering deep into her sister's green eyes. She had just said one of the most absurdly adorable things fathomable. Starry didn't feel it was in her to smile, to chuckle and make a witty retort. There just wasn't the energy or the spirit left in her. Not an ounce of it had faded from her sister though, it seemed. Jealousy began to take root.

Her frown deepened, and her lips parted to resentfully voice the words, "Thanks you". The bowl of soup levitated off the tray, and Starry sipped slowly from it's contents.

Shutter breathed a mental sigh of relief that Starry had accepted the soup from Jasmine, as he quickly tried to think of something he could do to help as well.

"...Oh! Hey, Starry, did you want to sit down?"

He said quickly, as he turned to look around the home, his eyes quickly settling on a old, worn stool at the table. Shutter would then trot over, and pull it out with his teeth, making it ready for Starry to sit down at, should she choose to.

"Uh, if it's not going to be comfortable enough, I'm sure I can go find a pillow, or a blanket, or something to drape over it..."

Jasmine leaned in as she watched her sister take the soup. Her eyes widened in unison with her smile as she watched with great anticipation trying to read her sister's reaction. Jasmine trotted up to Starry's side and peeked around to try and catch her sister's side. "I hope you like it Thtar Thtar! OH! Let me know if it'th too hot, ath I would be more than happy to manually lower the temperature for you!" Jasmine stretched out her wings and flapped them gently, sending a small breeze toward starry and her soup.

"Tho Thtar, I wath wondering if you would feel up to coming out of your room with uth into the living room. We could like, PLAY GAMETH OR THOMETHING! Or maybe look out the window at that beautiful cloudy day outthide!"

Starry stood still, with a scowl across her face as her sister trotted up to her side. Her mane got caught in Jasmine's light gust, blowing it over her face. She blew it out of the way with her breath. She was also not too pleased with her sister shouting so close to her ear, but that's who Jasmine was.

"I would like to sit down, Shutter... thank you," she muttered, before sipping cautiously from her hot soup. She trotted nervously out toward the living room; this was quite the adventure for her. She crawled onto the beat-up pre-war sofa. She stared nervously at the windows, looking out into Stableton before focusing her attention on Shutter and Jasmine.

Jasmine's heart nearly burst out of her chest as Starry took off toward the living room. As much as she didn't want to question this near-miracle, it seemed almost too easy to get Starry to come out after weeks of hiding. The orange pegasus realized that Starry' may feel a bit insecure, so she did her best to provide Starry her positive attitude, hoping that her demeanor would fuel Starry just like in the old days. That in combination with the excitement that seeing Starry again, caused Jasmine to be a bit more enthusiastic than normal. Jasmine fluttered to her sister's side and peaked out the window with her.

"Nothing really much changed, at leatht ath far ath I notithed... Um... I think that Thtableton got a bit more filthy... OH! If you mean jutht around the houthe, lot'th of thtuff changed! All exthept your room. I made thure to keep everything the thame ath you left it, in between all the cleaning..."

Her green eyes focused in the direction that Starry looked, only to see a massive blurry image of the outside world. As Jas futilely attempted to identify the subject of Starry's attention, she began to realize something that slipped right under her radar. Jasmine's head perked up slightly at Starry's mention of the outside world. She felt rather..."un-genius" having not noticed Starry's newly returned curiosity.

"Thtarry, did you want to see if anything changed in Thtableton for yourthelf?"

Shutter would think as to what could have changed, as he trotted over into the living room.

"...Well...Ashen's shop got blown up, but he's okay so no need to worry about that. Aside from that, I haven't really been keeping up..."

Shutter would mumble, and this was a true fact. He hadn't had much time to get the local gossip, his thoughts had been focused on trying to find leads as to where Starry had been, and since their return, he certaintly hadn't been focused on catching up...

Then Jasmine chimed in with what sounded like a very good idea, even though it kind of was the same thing he suggested earlier...

"You know, that's not a bad idea... If you're feeling up to it Starry, the three of us could go for a short walk, just around Stableton."

Starry listened half-heartedly to Jasmine's explanation of what had changed. One thing tugged on her heartstrings. When Jasmine mentioned keeping Starry's room the same, it reminded her of her mother, and how she used her room as a storage place for all of her worthless junk. Starry wiped away a discreet tear, reflecting on how much more her sister cared.

"No, I don't want to go outside," Starry sighed, after Shutter asked, "I'm not..." she trailed off into silence.

"What about mom? Wasn't she thinking of leaving when I disappeared? What happened to her?"

Jasmine stared back at Starry when she mentioned their mother. Her eyes were wide and didn't blink once. The orange pegasus was hoping to keep this time as positive as possible in the wake of what happened. Her sister was hurt, and didn't ereally need any more bad news. She thought to herself, searching for the perfect distraction from the dissapointing and yet very un surprising truth about what their mom had done. "No Jazz", she thought to herself. "Starry needs to know what happened." Jasmine worked up the courage inside herself to tell her broken sister what had happened. She opened her mouth to speak, trying to focus on the courage to tell the truth to Star.

"...Hey! I bet that my thithie would love thomething thweet right now! Let me go. Thhee what we have!" Jasmine trotted past Starry, ears splayed back as her eyes clenched shut. Way to go Jas, you of all poniesshould know nothing good can come of sheltering Starry. It was only a matter of time before she found out...

Starry sighed deeply. It's not like their mother hadn't been talking about places like Tenpony Tower. Starry hadn't seen her mother in the weeks she'd been home, she hadn't visited once. Jasmine's hesitance to speak on the matter was confirmation of what Starry already suspected.

Jasmines head sunk lower as her sister blurted out what she suspected. The orange pegasus bounded up and turned around in mid air. Alreadybegining to speak beforeshe hit the ground. The sound of her voice was urgent, perhaps almost pleading. Starry needed hope and this would do quite the opposite. This was life changing for the two of them, and Jasmine couldn't bear to see Starry react to what their mother threatened to do on a regular basis back in the stable.

"Thtarry, I tried to thtop her! She took a bunch of our capth and left." Jasmine stomped her hoof and looked away, her eyes shifting to the corner of her head. "She wouldn't even look at me... I tried Thtar, I tried to thtop her..."

That was all she could find herself saying. She couldn't help but feel that she had failed her sister. Jasmine knew that her mom wasn't all there, and that something died inside her back in the stable. But that didn't erase the fact that Jasmine shouldv'e had more control of the situation.

Starry smiled briefly, pleased to know that she had been right all along. She had suspected their mother had abandoned them, all the signs suggested she would. Being proven right was mildly satisfying, but as quickly as the satisfaction came, it was gone. Starry would be much happier being wrong. Being right made her want to cry.

"I was gone, missing, and the first thing on our mother's mind was leaving, while I was being-" Starry flinched. She didn't want to think about it, this certainly wasn't helping.

The orange pegasus' expression faded from the guilt she felt earlier. Her gaze was focused with a serious energy about it. The still air inside their shack almost brought Jasmine's attention back to herself as her words seemed to almost bounce back to her off the walls. And as Jasmines spirit seemed to intensify in the wake of the disgust that her mom gave her, she noticed that her words too seemed to grow louder. The contast of the silence and her volume almost amplified their conversation.

"You know what Thtar, BUCK mom... You and I have everything right here. We might as well have left her athh back in the thtable! You didn't need her after you left. You did everything on your own! All of thith-" Jasmine's head turned following her hoof that gestured to the walls of the room. "Thith ith all here becauthe of what YOU did! The adventureth and everything that you did, all you and. No help. Even when I came out and joined you and had my firtht tathte of how mitherable and hard it wath beyond the protection of the wallth... I did it on my own while she hid in her little corner."

Jasmine wrinkled her nose as her eyebrows furrowed. "You had what you needed thith whole time. A wonderful colt friend who ith good at thneaking and liketh taking pictureth, a thithter who completely adoreth you, thcienthe and all your friendth here in town. We all love you and won't ever abandon you... Thcrew mom Thtarry, becauthe we don't need her anywayth. We all have each other and that'th what matterth."

Starry grinned, and tried to fight back a snicker. This absolutely wasn't the time to be amused, and her sister made an outstanding point, one which Starry would take to heart in all it's seriousness. But it was just a little funny to hear her sister curse. It seemed so unlike her, of course, Starry had barely spent any time with her sister at all, since the first time she escaped the Stable. Jazz must've changed a lot since then, and Starry sincerely missed her.

Before she had realized it, Starry's smile had faded away, replaced with a nostalgic frown as she thought back on all the memories she had shared with her sister. She popped out of her introspection, and looked her sister and Shutter in the eyes.

"Well... she's already made up her mind, no sense worrying about it." Starry sighed in relief.

Shutter would nod, having stayed quiet for this part of the conversation. It was Jasmine's and Starry's mother they were talking about, and he didn't feel right contributing to the personal topic, despite how much he despised that mare...Celestia, just the thought of her speaking in that whiny voice sent cold terror shivers down his spine, not to mention how she acted...

Shutter would quickly shake his head, having lost his train of thought for a moment. Darn it, he couldn't just stay silent, he HAD to say something.

"...Yeah, don't worry about her Starry. We're both here for you, and we're not leaving..."

He stated, trying to give a friendly smile.

"...So...Starry...if you don't want to go outside...was there anything you wanted to do today instead?"